Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Walters: Trumpies Rightfully Reduced Oroville Dam Aid
alexis_meetourstaff-300x300-1
By Alexis DeSha, Graphic Designer
Published 6 years ago on
March 13, 2019

Share

California’s Democratic political leaders fancy themselves leaders of the anti-Donald Trump “resistance” and are engaged in legal and political conflict with the White House on dozens of specific issues.

Opinion

Dan Walters
CALmatters Commentary

When the Trump administration declared last week that it would not reimburse California for $306 million of the $1.1 billion cost of responding to the near-failure of the Oroville Dam two years ago, many saw it as just another front in the Sacramento-Washington feud.

Thus, when the Trump administration declared last week that it would not reimburse California for $306 million of the $1.1 billion cost of responding to the near-failure of the Oroville Dam two years ago, many saw it as just another front in the Sacramento-Washington feud.

In this case, however, the Trumpies are right, and California politicians should be grateful that the federal disaster aid isn’t zero.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency correctly concluded that it—meaning all U.S. taxpayers—shouldn’t have to pay for preventable structural problems that existed before the dam’s two spillways collapsed.

During the very wet winter of 2016-17, Oroville, the most important piece of California’s state water system, filled rapidly. Dumping water down the dam’s main spillway and into the Feather River enlarged a fault in the concrete slope that quickly widened and deepened into a cavernous hole.

Costs for the Emergency Response and Repairs to the Dam Are Heavy

Fearing that the spillway would collapse, the dam’s operators shut its gates, and as the reservoir behind the dam rose, it began spilling water from an auxiliary spillway. But the auxiliary opening—just a low place in the dam—poured water onto a dirt-and-rock face of the earthfill dam, causing massive erosion that threatened the structural integrity of the dam itself.

Reluctantly, but necessarily, operators reopened the main spillway’s gates to allow water to escape, virtually destroying it. Meanwhile, with the dam itself in jeopardy, nearly 200,000 people living downstream from the dam were evacuated.

Disaster was averted, but the costs for the emergency response and repairs to the dam are heavy, and the water agencies that rely on Oroville for their supplies—San Joaquin Valley farmers and Southern California residents, mostly—are on the financial hook for them.

The state applied to the feds for reimbursement of as much as 75 percent of those costs, arguing that it was a weather-caused emergency, much like a hurricane or a tornado.

It was a weak argument from the beginning, because it was apparent that the state had failed to fix defects in the main spillway when they first appeared and had rejected suggestions from outside groups that the auxiliary spillway be “armored” to protect the dam from erosion.

Spillway Chute Slab Failure Was Unexpected

A year after the incident, a panel of independent forensic engineers concluded in a 584-page report that the near-collapse of Oroville was caused not so much by weather but by poor design, construction and maintenance, calling it a “long-term systemic failure.”

“We believe otherwise and will work with FEMA to submit additional supporting information through the appeal process.” — Lisa Lien-Mager, a spokeswoman for the California Natural Resources Agency

“Due to the unrecognized inherent vulnerability of the design and as-constructed conditions and the chute slab deterioration, the spillway chute slab failure, although inevitable, was unexpected,” the panel’s report said.

In a nutshell, had the dam been constructed and maintained properly, it would have been fully capable of handling that winter’s rain and snow runoff. So the incident was caused by human incompetence and neglect, not by Mother Nature.

The feds are willing to give California $333 million to offset repair costs. Given the findings of the engineering panel, state officials should be grateful. However, they plan to appeal their claim’s partial rejection, which is based on pre-existing problems in the dam’s upper spillway.

“We believe otherwise and will work with FEMA to submit additional supporting information through the appeal process,” Lisa Lien-Mager, a spokeswoman for the California Natural Resources Agency, told the Sacramento Bee after last week’s announcement.

CALmatters is a public-interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to calmatters.org/commentary.

[activecampaign form=19]

DON'T MISS

What to Know About Pam Bondi, Trump’s New Pick for Attorney General

DON'T MISS

North Korean Leader Says Past Diplomacy Only Confirmed US Hostility

DON'T MISS

Democrats Strike Deal to Get More Biden Judges Confirmed Before Congress Adjourns

DON'T MISS

Newsom Gaslights on Potential Gas Price Hikes in Fresno Visit

DON'T MISS

Automakers to Trump: Please Require Us to Sell Electric Vehicles

DON'T MISS

President Biden Welcomes 2024 NBA Champion Boston Celtics to White House

DON'T MISS

Ohtani Makes History With 3rd MVP, Judge Claims 2nd AL Honor

DON'T MISS

Trump Chooses Pam Bondi for Attorney General Pick After Gaetz Withdraws

DON'T MISS

Average Rate on a 30-Year Mortgage in the US Rises to Highest Level Since July

DON'T MISS

Cutting in Line? American Airlines’ New Boarding Tech Might Stop You at Now Over 100 Airports

UP NEXT

How Trump Can Earn a Place in History That He Did Not Expect

UP NEXT

Demography Drives Destiny and Right Now California Is Losing

UP NEXT

Defining Deviancy Down. And Down. And Down.

UP NEXT

How Three Trump Policy Decrees Could Affect California Farmers

UP NEXT

Donald Trump Is Already Starting to Fail

UP NEXT

I Can’t Wait for Matt Gaetz’s Confirmation Hearings

UP NEXT

Let the Games Begin: 2026 Campaign for CA Governor Looms

UP NEXT

Why Trump’s Deportations Will Drive Up Your Grocery Bill

UP NEXT

Dems Still Dominate California, but Their Voters Have Drifted to the Right

UP NEXT

If You Thought Trump Wasn’t Serious About Deportations, Look at His First Appointments

Newsom Gaslights on Potential Gas Price Hikes in Fresno Visit

5 hours ago

Automakers to Trump: Please Require Us to Sell Electric Vehicles

6 hours ago

President Biden Welcomes 2024 NBA Champion Boston Celtics to White House

6 hours ago

Ohtani Makes History With 3rd MVP, Judge Claims 2nd AL Honor

6 hours ago

Trump Chooses Pam Bondi for Attorney General Pick After Gaetz Withdraws

6 hours ago

Average Rate on a 30-Year Mortgage in the US Rises to Highest Level Since July

7 hours ago

Cutting in Line? American Airlines’ New Boarding Tech Might Stop You at Now Over 100 Airports

7 hours ago

MLB Will Test Robot Umpires at 13 Spring Training Ballparks Hosting 19 Teams

7 hours ago

Death Toll in Gaza From Israel-Hamas War Passes 44,000, Palestinian Officials Say

8 hours ago

Jussie Smollett’s Conviction in 2019 Attack on Himself Is Overturned

8 hours ago

What to Know About Pam Bondi, Trump’s New Pick for Attorney General

NEW YORK — Pam Bondi, the former Florida attorney general, was chosen Thursday by Donald Trump to serve as U.S. attorney general hours after...

3 hours ago

3 hours ago

What to Know About Pam Bondi, Trump’s New Pick for Attorney General

4 hours ago

North Korean Leader Says Past Diplomacy Only Confirmed US Hostility

4 hours ago

Democrats Strike Deal to Get More Biden Judges Confirmed Before Congress Adjourns

5 hours ago

Newsom Gaslights on Potential Gas Price Hikes in Fresno Visit

President Joe Biden with Mary Barra, the chief executive of General Motors, at the Detroit Auto Show, Sept. 14, 2022. President-elect Donald Trump has promised to erase the Biden administration’s tailpipe rules designed to get carmakers to produce electric vehicles, but most U.S. automakers want to keep them. (Doug Mills/The New York Times)
6 hours ago

Automakers to Trump: Please Require Us to Sell Electric Vehicles

6 hours ago

President Biden Welcomes 2024 NBA Champion Boston Celtics to White House

6 hours ago

Ohtani Makes History With 3rd MVP, Judge Claims 2nd AL Honor

Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, speaks before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally at First Horizon Coliseum, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024, in Greensboro, NC. (AP/Alex Brandon)
6 hours ago

Trump Chooses Pam Bondi for Attorney General Pick After Gaetz Withdraws

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend